12 March 2026 – Former Bafana Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane visited SAFA House on Thursday where he presented a Youth Football Manual that he has been researching for the past few years.
The revered and well-travelled Mosimane met SAFA President Dr Danny Jordaan, CEO Lydia Monyepao, Technical Director Molefi Ntseki and Banyana Banyana coach Dr Desiree Ellis, and he said the Manual is a long-term player development programme. The document will address the age-appropriate training of players between the ages of seven and 18 years.
“It is a youth manual and it’s not a manual for professional football coaches. We are not teaching coaches who are at the Premier Soccer League how to coach. No, this is for youth level, this is directed to a coach, a teacher, a coach in Soweto or in any township who is coaching football, a coach who’s going to schools and coaching the pupils. This is directed even to the government because the government is involved as we are also coaching schools,” he said.
“This manual is for grassroots. It will give guidance and principles on how to coach a seven-year-old differently to a nine-year-old. What are you doing in that space? What principles are you going to put for a 13-year-old compared to a seven-year-old? And we’re discussing issues of the size of the pitch, the structure of a training session, the size of the pitch, the size of the ball.”
SAFA TD Ntseki said they had a fruitful conversation with Mosimane and they were happy with the outcome.
“I think it was a very important meeting or conversation that we had on youth football. Having researched on what is needed in football and adding his experiences when he went to watch coaches going out there, doing the drills and then doing the training , he felt maybe he needed to research more and spend more time in getting to understand youth football,” the SAFA TD said. “What everybody is trying to do, especially with the programs that he’s running, is to close the gap that we have in youth football. So, I think it was very important for him to come in and to share his ideas, not just ideas, but everything.”
Dr Ellis said: “I am very excited, especially for women’s football because a lot of girls don’t have that grassroots development. A lot of them play, maybe one girl in a boys’ team. Here they’re going to get proper coaching, which is key at that young age, to build the play of tomorrow,” Dr Ellis said. “Also, the coaches will be developed as well, because you have a teacher that’s committed, a teacher that wants to teach but does not have all the tools.
“When you start from grassroots level, you’ll get that player that’s technically, physically, and eventually tactically and mentally better. I’m really excited. I think, we always say we want to give back, but Coach Pitso has coached at the highest level, at internationally as well. For him to come back to this level says that he’s got a passion for football.”
Mosimane said his research has been almost five years in the making and he is happy to share it with his home Federation, SAFA, before anyone else.
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